New Life Old Problems 15
by AnnKa
Summary: Set after Eanna. Emily is adjusting to her new job and raising two kids on her own, but of course life would be boring if it was easy. Good thing she has Declan who makes sure someone is there to give Emily a hug, when she really needs it. There is going to be two parts to this.
1. Chapter 1

I'm working on a sequence of stories that belong together but still stand for themselves.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC for Beta Reading.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

New Life – Old problems

Emily had started her new job a month ago, but she still didn't feel at home. When she didn't pay attention, she would still have the elevator stop one level above her new workplace, always hoping that none of her friends would notice the mistake. But, of course, she enjoyed her new life as mom. Declan turn out to be a lot easier to handle since he had left the boarding school. They had grown closer simply by being able to spend more time together. Annie slowly got used to her single mom and enjoyed having a big brother. But that was exactly what turned out to be a problem now. With Declan's adoption just barely passed and her being a single mom the agencies weren't exactly supportive of her adoption plans.

Today she had received a letter that had told her they needed more time for the decision, but the way the letter was typed simply sounded like a turn down. If they took her little girl away it would not only break her heart but also the hearts of the two children. During dinner Emily had a hard time concentrating on Annie's stories. Declan, noticing his moms absent mindedness, had taken over the conversation keeping the little girl entertained.

After dinner she had bathed the energetic five year old, before putting her to bed. She had kept herself busy with dishes and other chores; she even started to rearrange the living room, desperately trying to ignore her feelings until Declan headed to bed. Finally the clock gave her permission to send him to bed. As she headed back upstairs she'd first checked on Annie, fighting even harder to keep her tears down, as she saw the little girl huddled up in her favorite blanket. When she opened the door to Declan's room a small smile showed on her lips. He was already in his PJs reading his newest book. He acted just like any child would act that she had raised and he had only lived with her for five months.

"Don't read to long, okay?"

"The book is getting good." He smirked at her.

"And you are not going to sleep all day tomorrow no matter how long you read." She reminded him of a scenario a few weeks ago when he had spent half of the night reading and had refused to go to school the next morning.

"I know." He looked at her for a moment. She couldn't shake the feeling that he had slowly become quite good at reading her emotional state and she wasn't sure if she liked that. "Are you okay?" She had seen it coming, but still didn't know the answer to it.

"It was a long day." That seemed to be a satisfying answer, since she was not lying but also she didn't bother him with her problems.

"Okay." She saw in his face that he didn't believe her, and got the proof for that when he put his book down and then jumped from his bed walking over to her and giving her a hug.

"I love you mom." It was one of the rare occasions when he actually called her mom; usually he would stick with Emily, since neither of them was quite used to the mother-son concept yet and he had called Louise his mother for most of his life.

"I love you too." She had to fight hard to keep her tears down. When he let her go, he headed back to bed.

"Lights out by eleven for sure," she admonished only getting a nod in reply, since he already was back into his book.

When she returned to her rearranged living room her eyes fell on the letter from the adoption agency. She took it and set down on the couch. Maybe she had just misinterpreted some things and they really just needed more time for the paperwork. The pep talk to herself didn't last long, as she read the letter again and again she didn't find anything that could be interpreted differently. Being a single mom with a newly adopted teenager and a busy job, the situation was difficult.

Slowly the tears began falling down her cheeks and she finally gave up on fighting them. She sank to the side, pressing her face into one of the bright red decorative throw pillows. When had her life started to become so miserable? Hadn't she lost enough when Strauss had put an end to her relationship? She had given up her beloved job too and now they wanted to take away her little girl.

Declan stood at the doorway of the living room. He knew that she didn't want him to see her like this, but he also knew that she needed someone to hold on to. A few weeks ago that would have been Derek, but now nobody was there for her. They had never told him why they had broken up; just that it was a fact. They, or better Emily as he didn't see Derek very often anymore, also refused to tell him what had happened in the case with Annie. He had known that something was really wrong when his mom had quit her old job starting a boring desk job; not that Declan didn't like to live at home and have her around more, but it was just too much change.

He turned, quietly going back upstairs. By the time he had reached the next floor he had made up his mind. Sometimes adults needed some help whether they wanted it or not. He sneaked into the master bedroom reaching for the phone. Thankfully his number was still on speed dial.

"_Hello?" _His voice was tired.

"Do you still love my mom?" Declan didn't waste much time.

"_What?" _Derek's voice sounded irritated. _"Declan is that you?"_

"Yes, do you love her?"

It took a while before a response came, this time his voice was a lot softer and even a little worried.

"_Yes, but that doesn't matter anymore. Some things just aren't supposed to be."_

"I don't care if it is supposed to be. If you love her then you need to come over here."

"_Why, what's wrong?"_ His voice now sounded almost alarmed.

"She won't tell me, but she is crying. And don't tell her I called." Before Derek had a chance to protest the teenager hung up and quietly went back to his room.

Nervous was an understatement of Derek's feelings as he stood in front of his old house; waiting for someone to answer the door. He wasn't sure what Declan had been talking about, but he certainly was worried and hadn't wasted any time coming over. Emily wasn't the kind of person to cry in front of the children. Something must have gone very wrong.

As she opened the door, there was no doubt left that this was the place where he needed to be. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her hair was a one-sided mess, indicating that she had lain on that side. She was still wearing her work cloths, another sign for him that she wasn't herself, since she preferred to change in sweats as soon as she got home.

"What do you want?" She snapped, clearly not in the mood for him, but then she really hadn't been in the mood for him anytime the past few weeks. Since she had left the team he might have seen her once or twice, but she had been very adept in avoiding talking to him at all.

"You tell me. Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah I'm wonderful, having a day of joy." Her voice was filled with sarcasm.

"Emily." He didn't know what exactly he was supposed to say. He wasn't even sure how much of the mess she was, had been provoked by their separation.

"Don't Emily me." She snapped again, tired of his understanding face. She didn't want him to understand. She didn't want him to care. She wanted to forget how much she cared for him. She wanted him out of her life and he was just perfect to blame for her misery.

"You want to know what's wrong?" She started, taking a big breath. "I'll tell you. Strauss decided that my relationship needs to be ended and threatened me with all kind of stuff. She obviously won. Too bad that we were still in the same team and I still had to see you every day. Then I decided to quit my old job to save what little bit of relationship was left and take care of a teenager and a five year old. Too bad that my job was one of the reasons why Strauss could threaten us in the first place, so now I don't have either one. But that doesn't seem to be enough. Those stupid ignorant people at the adoption agency think that a single mom, who changed her life and works her butt of and loves her little girl more than anything, isn't good enough for an adoption." Towards the end her voice had gotten almost hysterical.

"So let's take Annie away too, it's not like I got much more to lose." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, her eyes were furious as she stared at him, clearly blaming him for a huge deal of her misery.

He knew that there was no point of arguing with her now and it was certainly not what she wanted him to do. So he simply held her gaze, watching as her anger slowly disappeared, making room for the hurt. Derek hadn't seen her vulnerable like this in a long time.

"I can't lose her." She sobbed, no longer caring for her defense. "I can't lose my little girl."

He stared at her for another moment, before moving towards her, pulling her into a gentle hug. He felt her struggle for the slightest moment, before she sank against his chest. Soon his t-shirt was wet with her tears, but he didn't care. It felt too good to have her back in his arms to worry about anything else.

"We should go inside." He finally murmured into her hair, his hand softly brushing over her back. He closed the door behind them and turned the alarm system back on. He then guided her upstairs to the master bedroom. As they passed the doors he could see the light turning off under Declan's door. Derek opened her door and then let go of her.

"You should change into sweats, princess." The fact that she didn't protest against his order, or the nickname, proved once more how down she was. "I'll be right back," he said with a small smile closing the door behind him. He then headed towards Declan's room, turning the light back on finding the boy wide awake.

"How much did you hear?" He asked as he softly closed the door behind him.

"That they want to take Annie away."

Derek nodded slowly, taking in the shinning eyes. That had been the part she had basically yelled at him.

"Is Annie asleep?"

The boy nodded: "I checked on her, while you were downstairs."

The agent couldn't help himself but smile.

"Good. Now you go to sleep and I make sure your mom gets some as well." It still seemed odd to him to refer to Emily as mom and he hadn't known that Declan did it. "And we will figure something out about the Annie situation. She is not going anywhere."

He could see the skeptical look on the teenager's face, but if he knew one thing for sure it was the fact that he would prevent this family from breaking apart. He hadn't seen Emily that happy in years and although she doubted herself, she made a great mother. She was everything what those kids needed and he would make sure that the adoption agency understood that.

"Go to sleep." He said again and this time Declan actually lay down. Derek turned the light back off as he left, closing the door behind him.

As he came back into the master bedroom his heart was about to break. Emily sat in the middle of her bed staring at her feet, with her head resting on her knees. He wasn't sure what to say. He felt like he had no right to interfere at all, but at the same time he wanted nothing more than help her.

"I…" He started but didn't know what he wanted to start with. It might be a good idea to figure out things between them, before he brought up his plans for Annie, but then he knew that she didn't want to talk about their situation as long as her little girl was about to be taken away from her.

"Can you just hold me?" She didn't look up or speak very loudly, but it was just the right volume for him to understand her without questioning it. He moved to the bed, sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

Sometime while sitting there she had fallen asleep; at least that was what he had thought before he tried to move to the guestroom.

"Don't," was all she had murmured, while closing the gap he had just created.

They had both fallen asleep in that position, Emily exhausted from her day and Derek caught up in his thoughts. He was the first one to wake as the little feet were tapping over the floor. He looked at the brunette in his arms, which still seemed to be deeply asleep. He turned again this time to the little girl staring at him and indicated for her to be quiet, by putting a finger to his lips. He then carefully moved Emily's head on a pillow and got up.

He held out his hand for Annie to take and then guided her out into the hallway where he found Declan with an apologetic look on his face. The agent just shook his head and closed the door behind him.

"Is it okay, if I have Garcia pick you two up and go to the mall or something?" Declan didn't look too happy, but nodded. "Good, would you get yourself ready?" Declan nodded again and then disappeared in his room.

"Now you little girl are a different story." He turned to Annie, crouching down in front of her. "How about you show me what you want to wear today?" Thankfully it wasn't his first time working with her. The week during the case seemed to have left some of her trust with him.

"I wanna be a butterfly." Her eyes were shining, before she turned and ran to her room, the brown curls flying behind her. He smiled while fishing for his cell in his front pocket. He hit one of his speed dials and then walked to the bedroom Annie had run into. He hadn't known how carefully Emily had decorated this. On the door bright pink and yellow letters were announcing the room's owner. He opened the door a little further to watch what the little girl was doing, noticing that his friend must have repainted the room. The lower part of the walls was painted in a light pink, while the upper half was in a soft shade of yellow.

"_Garcia"_

"Baby girl, what are you doing today?"

"_Anything, but working on a case."_ He smiled at her answer.

"Could you take Declan and Annie for a while? Take them somewhere, where both of them can have fun."

"_I would love too, but why are you in charge of them?"_

"I can't really tell you. Everyone is okay and no, we are not dating, but I need some time to talk to Emily and she needs a break." He could basically see the little wheels turning in her head. "Just pick them up as soon as you can, okay?"

"_Okay." _ He could hear the worried edge of her voice and rolled his eyes.

"See you in a bit." He hung up and headed towards the girl who had somehow managed to pull out half of her closet.

"I wanna wear this and this." She held up a pink tutu and a pair of pink wings.

"What about a shirt?" She looked at him with a serious expression. She then handed him her clothing choice and dived back into her closet.

"This one," she had found a blue shirt with a butterfly on it. The combination of colors seemed horrifying to him, but Garcia wouldn't mind and he wouldn't risk arguing today.

"Okay how about you put those clothes on then and I'll put the rest back into the closet." He handed her the tutu and wings.

When she came back into his view he decided that there was no way she was leaving like this. Knowing all the psychos out there the tutu didn't cover enough. He turned to the closet pulling out a pink pair of leggings.

"These would look great underneath the tutu." He held them up to her, but she shook her head.

"I want blue." She decided as she pointed up to where the blue pair was.

"Blue it is." He helped her finish and took her downstairs where he found Declan eating cereal.

"I want some." Annie climbed on her chair. The doorbell rang at the same moment and he sure hoped that didn't wake Emily up.

"I'll handle her, you can get the door." Declan said, heading to the cupboard to grab a plastic bowl for the little girl, helping her fill it with cereal and milk.

He was sure he couldn't have handled the situation without the boy. Emily and Tom had clearly done a good job in raising him. As he opened the door the blonde hurried in with a worried look on her face.

"Where is Em?"

"Sleeping and I would like to keep it that way. The kids are finishing up their breakfast."

"What happened?" Derek didn't answer, partly because he didn't want the kids to hear it and partly because he wasn't sure if Emily wanted to spread the word.

"I will tell you as soon as we have things figured out or Emily gives her okay." He didn't miss her hopeful look. Ever since Emily had been transferred his friend had tried to bring them together, not knowing that the two had already been dating and split up again.

"Baby girl nothing changed between Em and me." He therefore added before guiding her to the kitchen where the kids were eating.

"How are you doing sweet cheeks?" Garcia was already fully concentrated on Annie. She had been more than delighted as there was finally a little girl in the team family to spoil. They finished up their breakfast, before the blonde took the little girl into the hallway to get her dressed.

"Dec, wait a moment." He held the boy back while the ladies disappeared. "Do me a favor and don't tell her what you heard and saw last night. I'm not sure yet how your mom plans on handling the situation and as much as I love Pen, she can't keep things to herself." Declan nodded. "Just tell her Emily wasn't feeling well, but you don't know why."

"Okay."

A few minutes later he closed the door behind the chatting group. He took a deep breath because now he needed to figure out how to handle Emily. He was pretty sure that she would go back to distancing herself now that she had slept over everything and let her aggressions out on him.

"Where did they go?"

He jumped as her voice rang through the silence of the house. Looking up at her, he wasn't sure why he had expected her to sleep through all the noise, but he had hoped she did.

"Pen is taking them to the mall." At least that's what he hoped she did. He couldn't think of many other places where you could take two kids with that big of an age difference.

"I hope you took away her credit card or she will spoil Annie to death." He was surprised when he saw a small smile on her lips, before she headed towards the kitchen. He hadn't thought of that but who cared, being spoiled was better than abandoned.


	2. Solving Problems

This is a long part and I had a blast writing it. Thank you for all the reviews and followers.

As always many thanks to REIDFANATIC for beta reading.

Criminal Minds is not mine (or I would do about everything to bring Paget back haha)

Solving old problems

They both had had their breakfast and now sat in the living room, each of them following their own train of thought. Morgan's main focus was on how to prevent the agency from taking Annie away from Emily. He knew that she was the right person to raise her, especially now that he had spent a few hours with the happy little girl. Changing her living conditions again would break her little heart as well as Emily and Declan's.

"You should have Hotch look at the documents." He finally spoke up to say something to break the unbearable tension between them.

"I might."

"We could all testify for you."

"I might need that."

"And if all that doesn't help, I could always file as adopting father." He spoke out the thought without even realizing it. Emily, on the other hand, had heard very well what he had said.

"Why are you doing this?" She suddenly asked, forgetting for a moment what she was worrying about. Testifying for and helping her find a lawyer was one thing, but offering to play daddy for her family was a whole new dimension, not that she didn't want him to, but under different circumstances.

For the first time in the last few months she held his gaze as he looked at her. She was trying to find an answer in his eyes, but he knew how to stop her from doing that. She saw clearly that he was keeping something from her, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Annie is happy here so she shouldn't be taken away to some uncaring foster family."

"So you are doing this for Annie." He could hear in her voice that she didn't believe him, but what was he supposed to say? That he did it because he loved her and wanted her to be happy? That was just a small part of the situation. After everything that had happened between them, you couldn't just turn feelings on and off at will and he was not going to hurt her again.

"For all of you, I haven't seen such a great big brother like Declan for a while and, although you don't believe it, you are the best mom those kids could ask for."

She felt her cheeks blushing and finally looked away. The two sat in quiet for a while, each of them again following their own thoughts, when all of a sudden Emily got up leaving the room to head upstairs. He didn't understand what had gotten into her, but he assumed he would find out sooner or later as he was still sitting in her house. When he heard her running down the stairs she seemed even more in a hurry. He was surprised when he saw her fully dressed heading for the door.

"Hi, where are you going?"

"Getting help, isn't that what you advised me to do?"

"Yeah, but…" He didn't finish his sentence not sure how he wanted to finish it. Finally he signed and followed her to the car. She shot him a surprised glance but didn't protest, so he took that as her permission to come with her.

For a long time they drove silently, neither of them knowing what they should talk about. When the area got more high class, Derek raised an eyebrow.

"Did you find yourself a fancy lawyer?"

"I grew up in this area, believe me I don't have friends here."

He laughed at the way she said it as it sounded like she had everyone scared off. But then again what he had heard about the young Emily that might actually have been the case.

"Where are we going?"

She glanced at him as she directed her car on the driveway of a big house. Immediately a young security guy came walking towards her car, not willing to just open the gates. The agent heard his colleague murmur something under her breath, while she rolled down the window.

"I'm on the list, Emily Prentiss."

"Can I see your ID please?"

Emily turned, clearly annoyed by the new guard. When she reached for her license she came over her badge. She was more than tempted in just using it to speed up the process, but finally she grabbed her license and handed it over.

"Just hurry up, I don't have all day for this."

"I need identification for everyone in the car."

"It's not like he is killing anyone."

"Ma'am?"

She was about to respond when a hand appeared next to her handing over a license. The young security officer disappeared hurryingly.

"What is this place?"

"Ambassador Prentiss secure castle." Emily answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She had hoped by just showing up she would have to go through less security than by calling, but apparently she didn't show up often enough to know the team.

"You are getting help from your mother?" She looked over to him not missing the mask he slipped on almost immediately. She was sure that there was hurt in his eyes. The same kind of hurt she had seen in the hospital when she had told him she would give up her job for Annie. But now was not the time or place to explain things, at least not in her car. When the security officer finally came back he had an almost apologizing look on his face and his boss on his heels. They were permitted entry and shortly after entered her mother's reception area. Elizabeth herself was already waiting for them.

"Emily, what a surprise." When the two women hugged Morgan's jaw fell, he had expected a lot but certainly not the two Prentiss women all united.

"Agent Morgan," Elizabeth brought him back into reality by shaking his hand, throwing her daughter a questioning look, but Emily just shook her head.

"Can I have a word with you?" She asked instead, and then marched off into her mother's office. After giving a few instructions the older woman followed, leaving Derek with a cup of coffee on one of the waiting couches. He wasn't sure what to think about the whole situation. The last time he had checked, Emily hadn't even talked to her mother and now they were hugging each other like they were the best of friends. Like fourteen months ago, he started to wonder if he even knew the woman behind Emily Prentiss.

She finally came back out closing the door behind her a small smile on her lips.

"One of mother's friends is lawyer specializing in custody cases. He is going to look into it later today." She announced as she stood in front of him. He stared at her blankly. As his confusion faded away, he slowly became angry. All the anger he had swallowed down over them splitting up and her being so stubborn about it was suddenly back and he got up glaring at her.

"Derek?" She had noticed the change in his face and took a step back. He, on the other hand, just started. He didn't care about the secretary sitting a few feet away from him or that her mother was most likely able to hear them from their office.

"I really think I never knew you. There is this person that calls herself my friend and for a while even more than that. She hates her mother and doesn't accept any help from her. That person even thought it was better to end our relationship rather than just talking to her mother, because she was too proud to do that." He took a step towards her, surprised by the fact that she held his gaze.

"Let me explain."

"No. You know I have no idea who YOU even are. Every time I think I understand you and that there is something like trust between us, new things turn up. Truth is I don't know YOU and I'm done trying to figure you out."

As his voice rose he saw her eyes filling with tears. He knew that he was going too far, but she hadn't cared about how much she had been ripping his heart apart for the past month. He held her gaze with his angry eyes until she finally turned and fled the room. If he had been in his own office he would probably have given a kick against the table, but here he just held still.

"Mr. Morgan?" The silence that had filled the room with even more tension was interrupted when Elizabeth opened the door wide enough for him to step in, "If you have a moment."

He wanted to refuse, but something had him go in despite that feeling. She led him to a little sitting alcove by the window. After sitting down she seemed to study him for a moment before she began to speak.

"I couldn't help but overhear what you just said, or should I say yelled, at my daughter and I think you missed some important points." She paused to collect her thoughts, looking for the right words, not acknowledging his confused look. It was one of those moments when she wished she would have raised Emily differently, made her a less stubborn person. But maybe she could at least now make her job as a mother right and help fix things.

"Two month ago I got a phone call from that person you were talking about out there. At first I didn't understand what she wanted, we had given up on phone calls since we were usually fighting and that's the way this particular one started out to." She couldn't help but smile. "That person, you don't know…" She paused to give him a meaningful look. "…then apologized and told me that she needed help. She told me what had happened. I had to admit that Strauss was in the right… What she said next surprised me more than anything. Emily said that she didn't care about that; she just wanted a different job in Quantico. Most of all she wanted to keep your job save, because she knows how hard you worked for it. She said she didn't care if she traveled or sat behind a desk, she just wanted out of the team." Elizabeth looked at the younger man in front of her, sensing the slow change in him. The anger was gone and she even seemed to see guilt.

"I was wondering why this person would do such a thing. I never thought of my daughter as someone for serious relationships, but when asking her she admitted that she was in love with you. She, in fact, stressed that she wouldn't risk her job for a stupid affair."

Derek leaned back in his seat. A sudden tiredness came over him and he rubbed his hand over his face.

"Why didn't she just tell me that?"

"As you may have noticed she has a certain pride and I might be one of the reasons that had her built that up. The point is, as much as she is involved with Annie now, her transfer had nothing to do with that little girl. It was a coincidence. She gave her job up to be able to be with you."

She gave him another meaningful look, before continuing: "After we visited your place last year my husband was convinced that Emily's heart had made a decision that it had never made before and he was right. She wants YOU, more than anyone else, in her life. So, do me a favor, and go talk to her." She got up and walked up towards the window staring outside.

"I don't know where she headed to."

"Come here." Elizabeth smiled but didn't turn. As Derek came to stand next to her she pointed towards an old tree in her backyard. As he looked closely he could see a pair of feet showing behind it.

"She always hid back there. Don't tell her I knew."

The man nodded silently before turning and leaving the office to head downstairs. He still couldn't believe what the Ambassador had just told him. Never had he expected Emily to actually go and talk to her mother. He had been mad, but he had accepted it, as he knew how bad the relationship between the two women had been. He had wanted her to go, but until today he would never have actually accused her for not doing so. With the realization, came the regret. If he had known what was going on, he would never have yelled at her like that. She had told him that she didn't want to lose him, but at the same time, she had started to push him away. At first he had tried to ignore the nagging feeling in himself that it was just a big game, but then when she started taking Annie in he just couldn't stop himself from feeling abandoned. It was horrible to be jealous of a little girl but, if he was honest, that was exactly what had happened. 'She, in fact, stressed that she wouldn't risk her job for a stupid affair.' He recalled the words Elizabeth had said. This statement had hit him so hard. He had never thought about that before. Emily wouldn't just jump into any affair for the fun out of it, at least not with a coworker, and now with the kids, probably not at all and he should have known that. He sighed as he opened the backdoor and started walking towards the tree that had been pointed out to him. He didn't dare look back to see if the Ambassador was still watching. As he came closer his heart started to pound even more. The tough Derek Morgan had disappeared only leaving room for a small amount of self-confidence. After all he had just had thrown in her face, he had no idea how to make up for that.

When he reached her, he decided to sit down beside her. He didn't have the guts to look her in the eyes yet. He needed to clear some stuff up first. The most uncomfortable silence they had ever experienced soon spread between the pair. While Derek didn't know where to start, Emily wasn't sure if she even wanted to go there. She knew that if she had just told him about her plans everything would have gone differently. But there had just never been the right time. At first she had kept it to herself, since she didn't know what her mother could arrange, then because she needed to get used to the thought first and finally, she had run out of reasons but just never felt like the right moment had been there.

"Why didn't you just tell me that you talked to your mother months ago?"

She shrugged, not sure how to phrase the answer, since she didn't know it herself. She wasn't surprised at all that he knew about it. It had taken him way too long to come out. She had even assumed that he had left, but when he had come, she was sure her mother had sent him out. She felt his arm move next to her, his way of trying to wipe stress and tiredness out of his face.

"I didn't mean to say those things the way I did."

A bitter laugh came over her lips, before she lifted her gaze from her feet to the woods in front of her. "Oh yes you did. I was actually waiting for that kind of explosion from the moment I came back from Europe."

He glanced over at her, not sure what to think of that. She hadn't sounded angry, but then she was the master of hiding her feelings. He followed her glance into the middle of the trees.

"I just realized a few things." He shifted uncomfortably, not quite sure where to start yet. "When you decided on taking in Annie I wasn't mad at you for taking the risk of breaking her little heart again. I was simply jealous." He saw out of the corner of his eyes how her gaze turned towards him, doubt written all over her face. "I was jealous because you would let her just walk into your life and seemingly give everything up for her. Now your mother just told me that the transfer was ready before you even met Annie, but as much as I try, I can't read your mind and that made it hard to know that… I'm glad you took her in and I'm sure there is a way that she can stay with you, but I can't deny how jealous I had been, still kind of am." He rested his head against the old tree staring to an uncertain point in the distance.

"I guess if I had just told you what was going on we could have cut out that episode of our lives." Her voice was quiet over the confession. She knew that it had been a mistake to keep it a secret but she didn't know what to say.

"At first I just didn't want to get you excited, since I didn't know what my mother could do. And then I didn't want to risk the transfer by having Strauss suspect something. My career was basically off the hook but yours wasn't." She sighed. "And then just the moment to tell you seemed to have passed. I felt like we had drifted apart so many miles that there was no point of telling you, since it wasn't going to change anything." A silent tear traveled down her cheek as she spoke the last words. When he didn't answer she prepared herself for losing him for good. There was no reason why he should have taken her back in the first place, so she tried to reason away her disappointment.

"There is another thing I realized while talking to her mother." He moved from his previous position, and then softly touched her face to turn it his way. Although staring straight in his face, she still avoided his eyes. He chuckled softly at her stubbornness and let his finger brush over her cheek.

"I realized that I'm in love with the most stubborn woman in DC, heck probably even the world." A small smile came to his lips. "And you just proved me right." Her eyes finally met his, mirroring him with a soft smile. He could still see the struggle in her, trying to find out if he really meant what he had just said. He put his other hand up to frame her face.

"I love you Emily Prentiss and, no matter how hard you try to push me away, I'm not going anywhere."

Without her wanting them to, the tears started running down her face. Her gaze towards his eyes was clouded as her eyes brimmed over, but for once, she was determined not to look away.

As her eyes slowly dried, they still had the silent conversation between their eyes. Finally she felt his fingers move to wipe of the rest of her tears.

"It would help if you said something Princess." He stated softly brushing over her cheek again. Her lips curved in the hint of a bigger smile as she reached up to lay her hands on top of his.

"I love you too."


End file.
